Reassessing Groupwork

I recently had an interesting interaction with one of my son's 7th grade teachers that reminded me how variable is the world of assessment with regard to group activities. My son just participated in a group activity for a grade. It involved middle school boys and singing a song. Needless to say, it didn't go well. My son was depressed about it because he knew, though he had done his part like the "seasoned" actor he is becoming, the others had blown it and now they were all doomed to a bad grade. This prediction came true. I couldn't believe it, though sadly he was not surprised. I approached the teacher to ask if my son could redo the song (he actually has since done so with another group of friends and is putting that up on YouTube). The answer was no, but she said I shouldn't panic since it is the beginning of the quarter and he has ample opportunity to pull up that nasty D. Needless to say, this didn't go over well with me and my teaching soul. I will excerpt my part in the email conversation that took place over the next couple of days:

"I’m not panicking so much as pointing out that what happened here is not fair nor does it represent best practice. Though group work is a great thing and a necessary skill for the workplace, it is not fair to predicate a student’s grade on the actions of others, especially when those others are middle school boys and there is singing involved. I can say that [my son] is negative about this group work (and therefore will be negative about upcoming group projects) because he feels like he actually did what he was supposed to do, and the others ruined his grade because they did not. He told me this well before the actual grade appeared in the Portal. I am completely in agreement with him.

I’m not sure what the [school district] party line is on groups and groupwork, but there is a very clear movement in higher ed to use rubrics and roles when assigning group work and then to give an individual rather than group grade based on multiple, iterative, and less subjective factors having to do with the two categories of product and process; i.e. the student’s actual performance as an individual within the group, quantifiable items such as assessment by group members, and completion of the role within the group that was assigned. In short, I share [my son's] frustration here. He’s been singing this particular song to us for weeks. He knows it. I’m sure he didn’t choke. Telling him to...hope to get better grades in the future is not a real solution to the problem. Isn’t knowing the song the point of the assignment?"

Later:
"This is not about practicing and planning or about how you structured the assignment....This is about the assessment. [My son] thought the others in his group would do their part. They didn’t and he got lumped in with them. Now he feels like he got the shaft and he went so far to prove it as to record the song and he and his friends...are putting it on YouTube. Kind of symbolic for how he feels about this, don’t you think? So, to get down to brass tacks, what is the point of the assignment—knowing the song, singing the song, being able to predict the other’s actions and level of engagement and then to control what they do...? What exactly did he do to deserve this grade? This is very confusing and impossible to reconcile and explain to my child."

The resolution was to expunge my son's grade. I don't know that my son's teacher (a very effective and well-loved classroom teacher) ever understood where I am coming from. Thankfully for us, groupwork is easier to accomplish online because mandating that they do their assignment in the course shell (meetings, discussion, document collaboration) allows you to always see what the group is doing and where they are headed, so remember to give them work areas. In eCollege, when you create and populate a group with students (done in the Group Manager area of the Course Admin tab in the toolbar at the top of the content display frame), you automatically create a Chat room and a Doc Sharing area for them to work in, but you can also assign a content item to them (say, a threaded discussion or a page of resources and points to ponder) so that they can work out who does what and use information tailored to their project. It also helps to give them a list of roles to fill and a description of the function of each role, as well as rubrics you will use to grade the assignment. The grade should take into account not only the product the group turns in, but it should also include a measure of self assessment across the group (group members evaluate each other's contribution to the product) and your evaluation of each individual's work. What each student did to contribute to the group is easy to see online because every interaction leaves a footprint-- you can always see who did what and if it was done on time. Giving a group grade that takes into account not only the group product, but also an individual's contribution takes away some of the angst students have around participating in group projects since they know that as long as they perform their role, their efforts will be recognized and rewarded.